East Asian (EA) language system is a complex system with a huge character set in comparison with the Latin letters. Taking Chinese for example, there are totally over 20,000 single characters. A recognition system with isolated models for each single character would be huge and include many redundant parameters. Implementation of a recognition system with isolated models on a handheld device would require significant resources to operate in a timely, efficient manner. Thus, a need exists for techniques to simplify recognition of EA characters.